Research
Energy balance
Meal replacement interventions improve cardiometabolic health outcomes, including glycemic control, blood pressure, lipids, and liver fat, often independent of or proportional to the degree of weight loss.
Using meal replacements to lose weight not only helps you shed pounds but also significantly improves your blood sugar, blood pressure, and liver health. This is especially true if you have Type 2 Diabetes, where significant weight loss can lead to remission.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
These diets are also effective for improving key cardiometabolic health outcomes, including dysglycaemia, blood pressure, lipids, and metabolic associated fatty liver.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple RCTs (DiRECT, OPTIWIN, ACOORH) and meta-analyses.
Source
The latest evidence and clinical guidelines for use of meal replacements in very‐low‐calorie diets or low‐calorie diets for the treatment of obesity
Shenelle Edwards-Hampton et al. · Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism · 2024
DOI 10.1111/dom.15819
narrative_reviewCited 15×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Total Diet Replacement (TDR) using meal replacements in very-low-calorie diets (VLCDs) produces significantly greater weight loss (average >10 kg over 12 months) and superior diabetes remission rates compared to usual care or food-based diets.Strong
- Meal replacements improve satiety and reduce cravings during caloric restriction through mechanisms like stimulus narrowing and ketosis, despite expected hormonal changes.Good
Related findings · Energy balance
- Achieving a total body weight loss of 10-15% (or >10-15 kg) through Total Diet Replacement (TDR) induces remission of Type 2 Diabetes in individuals with short-duration disease.Strong
- Bariatric surgery is superior to medical management alone for inducing significant long-term weight loss, remission of type 2 diabetes, and reduction in mortality for patients with BMI ≥ 40 or ≥ 35 with comorbidities.Strong
- Achieving type 2 diabetes remission requires significant weight loss (≥15 kg) via major caloric restriction, independent of macronutrient composition.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →